Active Leicester - Braunstone Leisure Centre

Negative experience: Went bad to worse. Final straw was letting men dressed as women into the female changing rooms!

Negative experience: Lane swimmers are constantly delayed prioritised over clubs. It's very frustrating that it becomes increasingly difficult to get in and have a lane where you can swim incumbered owing to the squeeze on lanes almost every evening from clubs being run at the same time

Fantastic experience: Nice pool for competing.

Negative experience: Braunstone gym a.k.a an evening creche.

Negative experience: Disgusting gym if im honest and the price you pay for it is a joke. Dont waste your good money at this place, there are better gyms for cheaper

Positive experience: Lovely seating area in the viewing area

Negative experience: I have a membership here, just because it's convenient. the place is dirty, smells of drains and is outdated. Very few of the showers in the pool changing rooms actually work. The draining areas are full of dirt and hair. The large pool has recently been retiled but it would appear they didn't take the opportunity whilst it was closed (for months) to actually clean the surrounding area. I wouldn't entertain showering in the other changing rooms if the state of the toilets are anything to go by. The gym has thick dust on surfaces and dirty mirrors. Apparently the staff go round and clean regularly .... hmmm really !!!! I did have a chat with the assistant manager to voice the issues but nothing has changed despite her saying she was going to investigate. City Council need to step up and sort this. All in all, a little unhealthy for a Health & Fitness Centre

Negative experience: Place is a joke. Pay for a swim membership and can never use the pool. Always swim clubs schools or lessons so people looking to swim haven't got a chance for a time that actually works (unless you don't have a job or kids) Even at the weekend there is a gala on every other week for sat and Sun so closed to the public. Then when it's not people cram into the avalible sessions and just take any lane regardless of speed they are going at and not enforced by staff. So 6 people in the fast lane doing 0mph whilst those looking for lane swimming are left with no options. Honestly just a joke.

Fantastic experience: What a nice place, great gymnasium and pool

Positive experience: Gym equipment is great (if you can get on anything) don't bother going after 4pm early in the week as it's now full of teens crowding around every machine. The treadmills are really good and you can usually get one straight away. Staff don't usually bother saying much to you but aren't exactly rude. This gym was a much friendlier place before it was renovated, too busy now too so I've left after 6 years.

Negative experience: I definitely do not recommend. I have a membership from 2022. And today I decided to resign - purely because of complete lack of respect from the management. The website and swim time table at the pool show one time available for a Lane swim, but from lifeguards we found out that the hours had changed and only half of the pool was available. Of course, there were already people in the other lanes. When I asked if there was information about the time-table change, the lifeguard only said that the site "is slow" and the manager that "it will be changed". Ridiculous. A simple note or a post on their website/Instagram would do - that’s all, but that’s apparently still too much to ask. The management is completely out of touch with reality because that manager, clearly without knowing the realities, announced that their regulations allow up to 8 people in one lane! He clearly has no idea what can happen when even 4 people are in one lane. This can be really dangerous. I have been swimming since I was 8 years old and I have seen so many situations of an accidental kick in the rib just when passing each other on the lane, which led to serious breathing problems. I could list the glaring mistakes for hours, which is a shame, because the place is really nice but unfortunately run by incompetent people.

Fantastic experience: Mixed for the changing room Showers are hot, pool is fantastic, staff are more than happy to help -just overall great place to swim and gym

Negative experience: Went for pool. The dressing rooms are horribly dirty, it seems the cleaners dont bother about corners. Just the middle of dressing booths and walk ways. Also smell was wonderful.

Fantastic experience: Went to braunstone leisure centre went to gym found it hard work but. No pain no gain need to lose weight so going again Chris was very helpful joined gym

Positive experience: Big swimming pool, not crowded (at least when I was there) and nice water temperature. One minus for not the cleanest changing rooms.

Fantastic experience: Affordable swimming pool and gym

Negative experience: Staff member Neil is extremely rude and makes customers feel very uncomfortable. Hence the reason my family no longer come to this gym. Would not recommend.

Negative experience: Nice sized Pool but the changing rooms for it are horrendously unclean! Smells of mould and its integrated into the tiles throughout. For the price too it should provide a day pass inclusve of swim and Gym not just one or the other.

Negative experience: It has taken me 3 hrs and 45 min to get through to reception. I’m weary of what the charges will be when my phone bill arrives.

Negative experience: It WAS a good leisure centre in about novermber the main pool got closed down and they have been"repairing" it for over 4 months which is taking the piss considering alot of the members including myself are teens and beacuase of the junior gym rule we can't even workout properly, we can only go gym if we go between 3pm and 6pm on weekends which is a short window of 3 hour time to use the gym and if ur unable to go during these times you can't go to any other time which is taking the piss I don't even really enjoy the gym but I'm only going because the pool has been closed for 4 months and I need to use my membership somehow I had asked in JANUARY when the pool was expected to be fixed and was told it would be fixed in the end of January, 2 months later and it's still closed. They're a great centre and had a great pool and a good gym but if we can't even use the pool or gym equipment, whats the point in it.

Positive experience: Toilets were not flushing but it was very busy and clean. The cafe was very busy which was lovely to see.

Fantastic experience: Great equipment at the gym. Great atmosphere, even for nervous beginners. Lovely swimming pool. Friendly staff.

Positive experience: Great place, good payment deals, with it be council run you have the choose to go to other council run leisure centres, staff are lovely and its well worth joining at very reasonable prices.

Negative experience: Closes at 4:30 on weekends which is poor considering this council funded gym is the same price, if not more expensive, than competitors.There’s a member of staff who, when he’s not leering at me and my mate (women in our early 20s), stands around loudly chatting and generally adding to the chaotic environment of the space. The gym has great potential with large windows and an inoffensive colour scheme; unfortunately, unreasonably high prices, crowded floor space, loud annoying music, and staff who stand around bellowing, ruin this.

Positive experience: Really Bad Bike protection. I do not recommend leaving your bikes here as they no longer allow you to put yours bikes inside and now you have to leave them outside in the rain sometimes. And allows thieves to steal your bike as it is right in the open. My bike was attempted to be stolen today and good thing I put 3 locks on it and they broke my front tire. This leisure centre really needs to start looking at their bike safeties. I personally asked if I can leave my bike inside as 2 men just tried stealing it and yet I was still declined.

Fantastic experience: Brilliant leisure centre great badminton courts friendly staff

Fantastic experience: Lovely staff, delicious jacket potato and lovely warm swimming pool. ‍♀️ the staff are so friendly x

Negative experience: A couple months an ago the gym was great. Now not so much, junior members have now been restricted to certain hours that are not convenient for them as the majority of sessions are near school times making it impossible to get to.There is only one session available for juniors and it’s rammed as all the junior members have to go then and the other members often come at this time after work. The kids are also restricted to no free weights making all resistance machines contsantly full. After all this today someone decided that they didn’t want to come into there shift and they make it so all junior members couldn’t go to they gym .However I was never told about this and I had to stand outside for an hour and a half as my parents weren't available to pick me up.Apparently we received a call about the cancellation but I received nothing.The staff were unapologetic and downright rude.I pay for this membership and I can evan go to the gym what a joke. The staff never answer the phone and there is often a 30-60min waiting time. They have no consideration for there members and they have yet to repair a pool that I’ve been wating on for a while.DO NOT COME TO THIS GYM

Positive experience: Good small gym and big pool nice kid pool and kind staff.

Fantastic experience: Great facilities and experienced and educated staff....clean and well maintained facilities, I would recommend this place..

Negative experience: The leisure centre is good and well facilitated. However, it's a challenge to get hold of reception team as they don't pick up the phone or it's a long wait when trying to cancel fitness classes. Then they charge you for late cancellation fee. Not very helpful.

Positive experience: The gym is very good and staff are friendly, only reason I've left 3 stars is the main pool for Active Leicester that does Lane swimming with 1.8m depth across the whole pool, has unfortunately been shut since the 1st of November.. and the update members were given at the gym, was not going to be sorted till after Christmas, which is quite ridiculous.

Positive experience: Lovely cup of coffee. And a chat with friends. Then in the pool for aqua

Positive experience: Main pool could do with a touch up... But good facilities all round..

Negative experience: Used to be great most of the staff are great but it’s very clicky in here. It’s a joke as it’s changed for the worse in my opinion

Positive experience: It's had a renovation and has some excellent new equipment, the staff are very helpfull, however unless you get there early or go late It's a lottery as to what equipment you can get on, it's so busy, a booking system might be needed. As an aside "active leicester" really needs a membership app

Positive experience: its a really good gym and has many weights and machines, very helpful staff, but, some people take off the hook that adjusts the height on the machines, which is really annoying

Positive experience: All good. New machines , two pools not often available. The little cafe doesn't open until halfway through the morning and there are no vending machines.

Fantastic experience: Lovely place. I always look forward to going as it's not full of poseurs or snobs. Everyone including the staff are really helpful and friendly. I highly recommend Braunston Leisure Centre

Negative experience: I would firstly like to say that the swim experience itself was nice and the staff were lovely. However, the changing rooms really were not very clean. The walls to the changing rooms had spatters and smears on the inside and the walls inside the shower cubicle from the knee down had a layer of brown..... Now I understand that during the course of the day some things will get dirty etc. But the layer of scum in the showers made me go home and shower there instead. Please fix this

Fantastic experience: Great swimming pools. One for Adults and experienced swimmers and one for beginners and children. Very clean

Positive experience: Nice gym,nice coffee in the cafe,friendly,helpful staff. Only 4 stars as the male toilet needs a bit of a makeover.

Fantastic experience: Great facilities and well trained staff

Fantastic experience: A great family swim. Our grandson loved it

Fantastic experience: Nice clean looking, gym equipment is really good. Have not used the pool yet but looks good staff all friendly and helpful

Fantastic experience: My new favourite Leisure centre! Has great parking and the classes are so full! The teachers are really good and very motivating! Just what you need! Can definitely feel the pain for a couple of days haha!

Fantastic experience: Good place for swiming+gym.

Positive experience: It's a nice modern leisure centre. With amazing gym equipment (matrix brand) and a nice warm swimming pool. General swimming is over crowded. And lockers don't work properly as when you try to unlock the locker, the 10p coin doesn't come back out which isn't a big deal. Apart from that it's decent for swimming. Both of the pools are 25m. The small pool is 4 lanes and the lane swim is 8 lanes.

Positive experience: Tried it out with grandson. Had a nice time

Fantastic experience: Great venue for swimming with the kids. The centre is clean, refreshments available at a little kiosk, plenty of seating, staff friendly and helpful. There is a very large carpark with a number of disabled spaces if required.

Fantastic experience: Friendly Staff and Great facilities. They have just recently had new equipment and a major refurb in the Gym, looks great!. Shout out to Ben and Neil, top guys at the Gym!

Negative experience: Having previously left a 3 star review, it's unfortunate that it's now dropped to a 1 star. The gym has basically become a glorified youth club where in the evenings teenagers outnumber the adults probably 6 to 1. Not only do they congregate around the machines in groups, lots of the time they don't even train properly (a case in point being today 3 girls put their drinks bottles on the bicep curl machine so that nobody could use it whilst "using" the next machine to mostly hang around and socialise). Apparently, in March, they're going to start letting 11, 12 and 13 year olds use the gym too. It's a shame that I'll probably be cancelling my membership.

Positive experience: I am a regular visitor and think it is a wonderful place. Especially with the brand new gym that has just been opened. It has more space, new equipment and quite a bit bigger. I do use the pool more and, having two 25m pools is great. Even better when the children are off school and I can swim after the aqua aerobics class, as there are schools in straight afterwards otherwise and I cannot do the swimming I would like. There is a good café, unfortunately not often open but I do like the place. It's a shame a lot of the classes I used to attend have not returned after COVID but it is still a great facility.

Fantastic experience: Clean and friendly, just stupid people who don't follow the highway code in the massive car parks https://www.leisureoffers.co.uk/active-leicester/swimming-lessons

Positive experience: Run down and dilapidated. Staff are generally uninterested and the cleaning staff need to open their eyes as tge place is filthy. Deep clean required. The only person that's helpful is the lady that works on reception. So many lessons cancelled too.

Positive experience: Did a swim test for work . First time I'd been in a pool for 15 years. Very modern mixed changing rooms,cubicles ,showers ,disabled toilets, hairdryers . Choice of pools . Sitting area watching the pool where you can access tea and coffee.Ample free parking. Staff very attentive and friendly ,which I needed as I tired really quickly and panicked.

Positive experience: Nice and modern and the gym is being refurbished as we speak.

Positive experience: It was really an amazing place, clean, staff user friendly and I recommend especially for family who have kids

Negative experience: IF YOU JOIN, DO IT ONLINE! Do not let the front desk workers do it as they are painfully slow and don't really seem to know what they're doing. I made the mistake of signing up for my membership at the gym (rather than online) and they managed to input my direct deposit information wrong. I found this out after I got back from a holiday and returned to the gym. Long story short, rather than contacting me to confirm my payment details, they cancelled my membership. Front desk told me that there was no way they could reactivate my account as it no longer "existed" and that I had to start the whole, long-winded registration process over again. They said I could do it online, which I tried to do and low and behold, online is telling me I already have an account with them. Honestly, my whole experience with this place has been one big headache and I wouldn't recommend it mainly due to the lack of competence of those working the front desk.

Fantastic experience: Really clean. Showers wonderful. Really cheap compared to down south

Positive experience: Amazing friendly well trained life guards

Fantastic experience: Took my great grandson swimming this week first timers here, got to say what a great swimming pool. Had great afternoon

Fantastic experience: Great for kids lessons, gym having makeover currently

Fantastic experience: Been taking kids from school here or a while. Staff are really helpful and patient with the children. The lessons have been amazing and all of our kids are making great Progress thanks to them. Well done guys and keep iup the good work!

Negative experience: My son was taking a swimming lessons for 3 months and they did all the same thing every lesson, very disappointed with swimming lessons he learned nothing new, still can't swim after so many lessons .

Fantastic experience: I always find it enjoyable although i am still trying to get used to the machines, they are slightly different to the ones i am used to at Spence Street Leisure Centre.

Fantastic experience: Very good facilities with on site parking.

Fantastic experience: Very clean and good. There is a big chap who is in the gym, he’s very good at gym. I recommend this place, however I have had my car stolen from the car park, and I also witnessed a gun fight in the car park aswell, between the police and a couple lads in a Vauxhall corsa.

Negative experience: Kids swimming lessons always being cancelled , rude bloke on reception

Fantastic experience: Its my go ti gym sadky the free weights room is small and constantly get packed with kids

Fantastic experience: Gym staff are lovely, great and comfortable place to come to the gym

Positive experience: I don't use the centre. I go to watch my grandson swimming. Main pool and training pool and a gym

Fantastic experience: This is like a second home to me. Staff very friendly and helpful. There was an incident in the pool recently and the staff reacted promptly, efficiently and dealt with the situation expeditiously and professionally. Very reassuring.

Positive experience: Visited the cafe after Braunstone Parkrun. Good to get warm again with a nice coffee.

Positive experience: The staff is friendly and the main pool is okay. BUT the opening times are not acceptable. Who goes to swim at 8pm or even 8.30pm, especially when you work full time and need to go to bed early. The main pool should be opened at 6pm for the public at least twice during the week, so the working people can go to swim straight after work.

Fantastic experience: Excellent facilities and great value for money with a monthly membership

Positive experience: Great pool if a little cool I still find the website opening times difficult, very Lcc

Positive experience: Could be better!! Canteen staff are nice

Positive experience: Facilities were good, the floor in a sports hall wasn't slippery which was great for a dance competition. But toilets were awful: out of 4 taps only two could give you some water but the stream was very weak. Toilet paper run out in several cubicles but nobody replaced it.

Fantastic experience: Very good leisure centre. Clean and good service all round. Has a small pool thats heated for for children and babies definitely recommend to others

Fantastic experience: Friendly staff and a great pool, nice to be back after 18mths away! Busy some mornings at 7 am, quiet others. Larger pool opens earlier at 6:45am on Weds

Fantastic experience: Nice place, plenty of parking even for coaches, when stupid people don't park in them, pool is lovely and clean, staff friendly

Fantastic experience: Brilliant my little girl dose gymnastics there the coaches are very friendly and encouraging She loves it.

Fantastic experience: Nice pool, friendly staff.

Fantastic experience: Love the swimming area. Good facilities.

Positive experience: I really enjoyed my first swim since lockdown. Impressed with the safety standards & pleased not too busy.

Negative experience: I would like to pay as you go to swim or if not have a swim only membership. However, nothing on the website about swimming prices and options. I have rang the centre 3 times and got no reply. Also completed an online enquiry form, again no reply. Very frustrating.

Positive experience: Excellent covid safe measures in place . Be good to have more classes back on but understandable at moment

Fantastic experience: Jeez I love this place.... no one judges this old fat bird, unlike some of those fancy places.

Positive experience: Good leisure centre and 2 good pools, gym and classes when back in normal times

Fantastic experience: First time back swimming in 16 months (due to covid). Felt safe and clean. Lane swimming, we each had our own lane. Great to have them open again!

Fantastic experience: Great facilities, modern interior and friendly staff!

Fantastic experience: The gym is spotless and the staff are making sure it's always cleaned after you use the equipment

Fantastic experience: Very friendly and helpful staff.Love going to the gym and aqua aerobics cannot wait to be able to return

Fantastic experience: Really clean and friendly place. Everything is well explained and easy access to everything.

Fantastic experience: Great gym, sticking to measures for covid and friendly staff

Negative experience: Rude staff , paid for a swimming session 2-3 and at 2:45 the lifeguard shouts everyone out, we should be allowed in the pool till 3 as advertised , then even though everyone was already moving to the end to get out he decided to rudely shout it again causing my young daughter distress, I said we are getting out and he muttered something under his breath , disgusting behaviour and poor attitude, doesn't deserve a job in the current situation

Fantastic experience: Nice place and atmosphere. Friendly staff. Strict with rules, but that's what You need to stay safe and keep others safe. Have small groups of children for each swimming instructor. If I'm not mistaken, it used to be 8 and now reduced to max 4 children per group. All safety measures in place.

Positive experience: All facilities were clean and modern, staff were friendly and helpful although the booking system is ludicrously overcomplicated and bureaucratic, and the main pool is lane-swimming only with 2 slow lanes, which is peculiar, no space for a general splash. Also as we'd booked the main pool we weren't allowed in the other pool which is equally bizzare. Made simply going for a morning swim unnecessarily complicated. You should be able to turn up, pay for a session and use the pool just like anywhere else.

Positive experience: Great place to work out, good equipment & friendly staff